TVE reform objectives and indicators
The SPED in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011–2020 sets out a new “national vision” of education for Kazakhstan to be, by 2020, an educated country with a smart economy and “highly qualified labour force” (MES, 2010, p. 7). The specific strategic aim for TVE is “modernisation of the TVE system in accordance with the demands of society and industrial-innovative development of economy, integration into the global educational space.”
The principle TVE objectives stated in the SPED (see: Box 1) involve three provisions: i) improving the TVE learning content; ii) improving staff training; and iii) enhancing the prestige of TVE. There is however a gap between the vision and the strategic aim and the TVE Programme objectives.
Linking TVE objectives to the national vision statement “achievement of the highly qualified labour force”, requires that they are monitored through the indicators demonstrating the form that the qualitatively and quantitatively “highly qualified workforce” should take in Kazakhstan by 2020 and through what specific means and strategic trajectories the Programme’s vision will be achieved between now and then.
Box 1: TVE objectives in the SPED
Source: MES, 2010, p.43
Among the target indicators for TVE system modernisation (see Box 2), the indicator describing improvement of results of skills assessment (share of graduates who passed the independent skills assessment) is a reasonable measure of TVE improvements. While the indicator for improving a share of the working and employed TVE graduates goes beyond the responsibilities of the TVE as the employment success of graduates is influenced by many other factors. The indicator of the share of colleges that passed “national accreditation” would, in other countries, be part of the quality assurance strategy rather than a separate target indicator.
1. Out of the total number of assessment participants, 60% in 2015, and 80% in 2020 of the technical and vocational school graduates who pass the independent qualification assessment in the employers’ associations at first attempt.
2. The working and employed graduates of technical and vocational schools in the first year after graduation who studied under the government grant scheme should reach 78% in 2015, and 80% in 2020
3. By 2015, 10% of the colleges should pass national institutional accreditation, and this should increase to 30% in 2020.
Box 2. SPED’s target indicators for TVE system modernisation
Source: MES, 2010, p.17
TVE development strategies
The roadmap for the implementation of the SPED (MES, 2011) combines various activities (activities 108-130) and additional indicators linked to the TVE objectives. However, these activities and indicators are linked simultaneously to all the three Programme target indicators for TVE system modernisation (shown in Box 2).
Although the SPED foresaw a number of changes in TVE, some of those changes are not clearly packaged and linked to the individual TVE objectives/outcomes. This means that even if a TVE funding system is improved, all the proposed councils are set-up and the national qualification system is up and running as planned by the Programme, the eventual outcomes of the reform may not entirely materialise. For the above reason, it was not possible to produce comments on specific roadmaps for achieving each of the TVE-related objectives (shown in Box 1).
Policy making in TVE
The TVE reform objectives of the SPED seem to be outlined however without direct links to the principle policies agreed in the international HRD Conventions and Recommendations and other principle documents of the ILO, UNESCO, and the EU. These documents are commonly viewed as the international policy benchmarks for HRD and enable national TVE systems to improve structuring, targeting, and comparability.
The major international TVE policy objectives commonly focus on four broad areas:
• relevance of TVE to the demand by the population (for personal development and social integration), stakeholders’ expectations, and labour market needs (industry sectors, regional economies, and employers);
• equality of opportunity to access TVE and employment (involving issues of funding, availability and eligibility, bringing TVE providers closer to consumers, availability of adequate choice of TVE programmes, and related participation in TVE);
• quality of TVE delivery;
• efficiency of TVE systems and institutions (the efficiency of utilisation of assets and resources in producing the outcomes).
The current assessment could not identify any national TVE policy statement in which major long-term intentions of the government and stakeholders are described. It is noted, however, that the Law on Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the SPED contain a number of TVE policy provisions.
National HRD policies commonly aim to describe the national commitment to the above principle areas concerning TVE-relevance, equality of opportunity, quality of TVE, and efficiency of TVE delivery. In each of the above policy areas, a division of responsibilities between the government and the stakeholders may need to be identified. Policies may, for instance, include the government’s commitment to the provision of free pre-employment training, the employers’ and labour unions’
commitment to labour force development, etc. National HRD policies commonly go beyond the provision of TVE for young people but also cover education and training for the employed, the unemployed, and those facing various constraints, etc.
Although the SPED contains a coherent variety of objectives, activities and performance indicators, it focused on selected TVE development orientations but did not sufficiently emphasise some other important objectives related to the above policy areas that are discussed below.
Relevance of TVE to the demand of the population and the labour market
International HRD policy documents recognise that technical and vocational education considerably contributes to the personal development and social integration, particularly of young people, resulting in meaningful private and social benefits. This means that TVE should be provided not only at the demand of the labour market (employers and industries) but equally so at the demand of the (young) population. Even if labour market demand for an educated and skilled workforce is limited and declining, general education as well as technical and vocational education and training should be provided while taking every possible precaution to avoid mismatches between demand and supply.
In addition, many TVE graduates may also continue education after graduation or decide to start entrepreneurial activities or perhaps find skilled jobs abroad. Many technical college graduates give more thought than before to entering higher education programmes as they are able to select the areas for further learning or self-employment taking into account their TVE experience. This is expressly confirmed in the Law on Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan that states that education aims to ensure personal and social development (Article 3: Principles of the national education policy).
However, the interviews conducted during the assessment revealed that major concerns of TVE managers were with producing skilled workers at the demand by and on direct agreements with enterprises.
The TVE delivery planning concept which links the government-funded “order for services” to the bilateral agreements-based direct demand for skilled workforce from individual enterprises is outdated and not applied in developed countries. Bilateral agreements between TVE institutions and companies remain, however, a reliable basis for ensuring places for on-the-job instruction. One of the most common policy objectives of TVE is to contribute to maintaining the sustainable enterprise, improving productivity and increasing employment. In this sense, TVE activities are to be driven by the demands of the labour market, which needs to be properly assessed and even anticipated.
The issues regarding skills demand assessment and anticipation at national and regional levels are becoming ever more important in many other countries yet are not well focused in the SPED.
A quick glance at the occupational structure of the national labour force, in comparison with some of the EU member-states presented in Table 5, suggests that in Kazakhstan, a share of professionals in the national labour force (Group 2: 15.3%) slightly exceeds the same in the UK and Germany. A share of technicians classified on the basis of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) (ISCO Group 3: 10.7%) is at the average or lower end of the EU. The proportion of the skilled workforce is 46.7% (sum of the ISCO occupational Groups 4-8). This may seem to be in line with EU averages except that the share of skilled agricultural workers is as high as 10.6%.
The major structural problem of the labour force is that the share of jobs which do not require any specific/identifiable knowledge and skills (ISCO Group 9) is very high reaching 24.4% with more than half being unskilled workers in industry, construction, mining and other technology-related sectors of the economy. The other half of unskilled workers come from services, sales, etc. This problem needs to be addressed by increasing the share of skilled workers through the production of new workers in the TVE system and upgrading qualifications of the employed workforce. This would enable, in the future, replacing the currently unskilled workforce and support the improvement of labour productivity. The share of unskilled workers in the economy should preferably be reduced to some 10%. Overall, the TVE system in Kazakhstan is currently responsible for training and replacing approximately three-quarters of the national workforce: servicing 57.4% of all the technicians and skilled workers (ISCO Groups 3-8) plus the need to reduce the 24.4% of unskilled workers (ISCO Group 9) to about 10%.
The occupational structure of the national labour force reflects the structure of occupied jobs at the time that the labour force survey (which is commonly implemented as an annual household survey) was conducted.
Table 5. Occupational structures in Europe, 2006 (%) in comparison with Kazakhstan Groups of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ILO, ISCO-2008)
Senior officials and managers Professionals Technicans and associate professionals Clerks Service workers and Skilled agricul- tural and fishery workers Craft workers Plant and machine operators Elementary occupations
EU averages 5.0- 8.0- 6.4- 4.0- 9.3- 1.0- 8.5- 5.0- 6.0- 16.0 21.0 23.6 15.2 24.4 16.0 19.5 17.6 17.2
Kazakhstan 5.1 15.3 10.7 6 14.2 10.6 10 5.9 24.4
UK 15.4 14.3 12.3 13.7 16.9 1 8.5 6.4 11.2
Germany 5.7 13.2 20.9 12.3 13.4 1.8 14.8 6.8 10.6
Poland 6.7 15.7 11.5 7.6 9.6 15.9 15.9 9.2 7.5
Source: Future skills needs in Europe. Medium-term forecast. CEDEFOP. 2008; data on Kazakhstan by the Ministry of Labour of the Republic of Kazakhstan. April.2013
Participation in TVE
The best measure of participation in TVE is a share of the 15-24 aged group in various TVE programmes which may be classified by the International Classification of Education (UNESCO) as ISCED 3, 4 and 5B. To avoid difficulties of referring different programmes to the different ISCED levels, it is useful to compare participation of youth in all programmes. Table 6 compares Kazakhstan with some of the OECD countries as well as Russia and the Ukraine and demonstrates that youth participation in TVE in Kazakhstan compares well with many OECD countries and has outperformed that of Russia and the Ukraine.
Table 6. Comparative participation of 15-24 youth in ISCED 3, 4 and 5B TVE programmes36 Country
Youth 15-24 (000) 2006 ISCED 3 (Initial VET combined with general education after Grade 9) ISCED 4 (Post-secondary non-tertiary) ISCED 5B (Short-cycle tertiary vocational programmes) ISCED 3 + ISCED 4 + ISCED 5B (All vocational programmes) TVE participation as a % of 15-24 age group
Semi-skilled / skilled worker
Skilled worker
Technician All vocational awards
Australia 2875.7 769 687 190 374 960 061 33.4
Republic of Korea
5982.8 580 274 1 317 325 1 897 599 31.7
Germany 9746 1 729 839 395 013 339 989 2 464 841 25.3
Poland 5820 1 180 964 215 739 20 745 1 417 448 24.4
Norway 579 124 230 4 829 7 178 136 237 23.5
Netherlands 1957 431 683 6 295 6 603 444 581 22.7
France 7913.7 1 457 240 15 894 508 932 1 982 066 20.3
Belgium 1274 52 878 193 063 245 941 19.3
Russia 23994 1 413 885 234 174 2 013 770 3 661 829 15.3
Ukraine 7266.8 326 213 175 667 582 855 1 084 735 14.9
Kazakhstan 12931.9 2(2012)
585 185 (2012)
19.96
Source: Participation in formal technical and vocational education and training programmes worldwide.
An initial statistical study. UNESCO. UNEVOC. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2006; ILO Labordoc population database.
Equality of access to TVE and labour market
The equal opportunity of having access to education, training and employment is a fundamental international policy objective highlighted in all HRD Conventions and Recommendations of the ILO, UNESCO and the documents of the EU. The SPED however treats equality as a way of “ensuring equal access of all the participants to the educational process, and to the best educational resources and technologies”; it also suggests that improving the financing system aims to provide equal access to education services.
36 Participation in formal technical and vocational education and training programmes worldwide. An initial statistical study. UNESCO. UNEVOC. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2006; ILO Labordoc population database.
Free access to education and training is commonly interpreted as one of the instruments for ensuring equal opportunities for: a) personal development as well as b) entering the labour market (ILO, 2004). These efforts contribute to achieving the so-called “inclusive growth.” Free publicly- funded access to TVE is not the only instrument for ensuring equal access. Other important equal access instruments include availability of training institutions and training places in the areas where learners live or work as well as the availability of adequate choice of TVE programmes taking into account the gender-related and age-related needs and other reasonable preferences of young people.
With regard to equal opportunity, the Law on Education provides for publicly funded general education, while the acquisition of vocational education (the skilled worker qualification) is available on the basis of competition and within the so-called “state order” for TVE services (Article 8).
Any competition effectively reduces the basis for equal access and requires some compensatory schemes. Each government decides for itself on the minimum guarantees it can offer for ensuring equal opportunities to access TVE and the labour market. Besides offering free general education, developed countries also offer various levels of TVE free-of-charge. A minimum level of such a government guarantee for accessing TVE and, through this, the labour market, is a provision of vocational education/skill training leading to the skilled worker qualification enabling them to acquire a trade without competition, without other conditions and free of charge. However, the acquisition of the technician-level qualification may not necessarily be provided free of charge and will require passing an entry examination (UNESCO, 2011, Section 15. Tertiary Education. Clause 201) simply because of the course higher prerequisites and requirement.
The ILO HRD Recommendation 195 (2004) (ILO, 2004, Section 8) stated that “members should:
(a) recognise their responsibility for education and pre-employment training and, in co-operation with the social partners, improve access for all to enhance employability and to facilitate social inclusion.”
Thus it can be concluded that the pre-employment training of workers (meaning skills training in the first trade/s) is the responsibility of governments and should preferably be publicly funded. In 2013, only 25.8% of the 237 911 TVE students after grade 11 of general schooling, were publicly funded, while 51.7% of the 349 399 students after grade 9 were publicly funded. Publicly funded TVE means that students are enroled on the basis of the so-called “state order.” Overall in Kazakhstan, some 40% of TVE students are on publicly funded programmes while the remaining 60% must pay fees (NCESA, 2013).
The Republic of Kazakhstan, in which a significant share of youth aims to enrol at universities, would clearly benefit from providing free access by young people to the skilled worker training programmes (this provision may, in the future, be extended to the technician education programmes).
This would improve the balance of educated graduates against the structure of the national labour force presented in Table 5. It may also be expected that enrolments of young people in the free-of- charge TVE programmes will increase as the youth who are currently staying out of vocational education and training, as well as any other education streams, may join TVE. This may particularly be relevant for the rural areas and small towns in which low-income families live.
The issue of equal opportunity in accessing TVE and labour market may need to be addressed more broadly taking into account: the large territory; obvious differences between the urban and rural populations in accessing TVE institutions; and the disparities in the funding levels between regions given that the funding of TVE is entirely decentralised. Such regional funding disparities are recognised and addressed through compensatory mechanisms in other countries such as the USA and France.
Quality of TVE
Concepts and policies for TVE quality assurance may vary across countries. However, planning of the quality-related activities need to be preceded by a national concept of TVE quality. In the SPED, a number of quality-assurance activities are listed aiming to improve institutional accreditation, staff training, development of standards, etc. which would benefit from bringing them under a certain systemic concept.
Efficiency of TVE systems and institutions
National TVE policies and reforms commonly aim to improve and monitor the efficiency of utilisation of TVE institutions’ assets and resources in producing the outcomes. Such objectives may involve improvements of institutional management and organisational structures, funding schemes, monitoring and reporting, etc. Some of the activities are described in the SPED with the major focus being placed on the introduction of public-private partnerships in managing TVE system and institutions.